Officially Full Term

Today, I am officially 37 weeks and thus full term. All the feelings of pregnancy in my body are changing and my excitement grows more and more. In my last post I said that I think Ben is dropping even more since my doctor visit, so here is a picture to compare. The 36 week picture was taken on doctor visit day as usual, this past Monday. The 37 week picture was taken today, my official week change-over. What do you think? I know, I can't really line up the pictures perfectly, but don't you think he is changing position. Look at the space increase where my hand rests. He sure feels different.

And, I made Ryan take one more pregnancy picture with me to commemorate our twosome-ness as we anxiously wait to become a threesome. Don't tell Ryan I told you, but he often goes into Ben's room too just imagining him being here. We both catch each other just peaking in and dreaming about him sleeping soundly (even if it is only for a short while) in his crib or rocking him in the glider.
I think we should have a little fun guessing his birthday. If you have a feeling or a guess of when he will arrive, leave me a comment and I will compile all our guesses. Give the date and "am" or "pm." Whoever gets the closest without going over will win a prize. I don't know what the prize will be, just leave me your guess :)

Grandparents

I have to tell you all some things about grandparents:

First, Ryan's grandparents (his dad's parents) were in the Tyler, Texas newspaper (click here for the article). The article was about their 63rd wedding anniversary - just in time for Valentine's Day. I really hope that Ryan and I end up with a marriage like that - 4.5 years down, 58.5 to go.

Then, I checked my email tonight and my grandma asked to be my facebook friend. The same grandma that reads my blog faithfully :)

I worry about keeping up with things that Ben does online...I guess I should take some tips from my grandma!

In baby news - I really think he is even lower than on Monday when I saw my doctor. Ryan agrees. Things just feel different. I am hoping he comes soon!

Progress!

We just got back from the doctor and I am dilated to a 1 and the baby is low in my pelvis. Yeah. My doctor still thinks he will arrive close to the due date (3-19), but maybe a few days early. My doctor is on call the weekend before his due date, but is leaving town the day before the due date. So, I am really hoping for the weekend of the 13th! My mom is a teacher and her spring break is the following week, so it would be absolutely perfect if she could be here the week of her spring break and not have to worry about getting a substitute and making all those arrangements. So, when you think about us, put in a little word with God that we want this baby a little early :) We will keep talking to Ben about it!

Everything else is going well. My sleeping is becoming less comfortable, but my heartburn is subsiding now that he has moved down. I thought I had noticed that, but I am never sure. We are both extremely excited and I can hardly wait. Once he does arrive, we will do our best to post a blog soon, so be sure you are subscribed and checking your email or your reader! We can give you instructions on how to do that for those of you that are less blog savvy :)

Birthing, Bowling & Banana Splits

What do these three things have in common? This is what we spent yesterday doing. My doctor keeps asking if I am going to take any childbirth classes, so I finally gave in and signed us up for 5 hours of class for two Saturdays. Yes, 10 hours of gross video (according to Ryan) and practice massage techniques (my favorite part). We actually enjoyed the class. The teacher was a lot of fun and seemed to know the answer to everyone's questions regarding the horrors of childbirth. We are just glad to get the information and then we will see what really happens here in the near future.

After our classes we had a quick break for dinner and then went to our all-staff fun night of bowling and then banana splits or brownie Sundays. I didn't bowl because I was a bit afraid of falling on the slippery floor. And, my left arm has been giving me troubles, I must have slept really wrong on it or something. So, making my right arm sore from bowling didn't seem like a good idea. I need at least one good arm. Then we went back to the commons area at World Impact and enjoyed delicious ice cream. My favorite food!! There were some little kids and it was hilarious watching their parents try to turn a blind eye as they filled their bowl with just chocolate syrup, so proud to have done it all by themselves. Oh, that day will come too soon!

Today, the plan is to rest and then tomorrow we go back to the doctor. I am excited to finally talk with my doctor about our birth plan and excited that we are one week closer to D-Day.

Random Belly Shot

I just love this sweater, so I thought I would share a picture of my 36 week belly covered up before you get the belly progression picture on Monday. We continue to get more and more excited and anxious for Ben to get here. I am sleeping less and less and hoping that he will move down soon so maybe my heartburn will decrease. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

We also had quite a full weekend as Ryan attended The Urban Ministry Institute (TUMI) satellite conference. He is such a fabulous teacher and has done such a good job writing the Solid Rock curriculum that he was a bit famous at the conference. The founder of TUMI, Dr. Don Davis, (quite a high profile man) told Ryan that he was hearing rumors that Ryan was going to take over his job in the future! While he was joking, that is still quite a compliment. Dr. Davis is a very respected man in World Impact and such a compliment is a great encouragement that we are serving within our gifting here at World Impact. I wish I had a picture from the conference, but I was just the hired help. I helped serve all the meals and got to eat for free. That was a great bonus - I got to sneak a peak at my husband and didn't have to make my own lunch and dinner each evening. It was Valentine's weekend and Ryan was gone 12-14 hours a day, so I had to do what I had to do to see him. And, I don't turn down free meals :)

The Way I Feel

I have never quite felt the glow of pregnancy, haven't noticed my hair or nails looking especially wonderful, but I have noticed the heartburn and lately the fatigue has been back with a vengeance even though my time in bed is restless. So, when I saw this comic on my weekly emails from babycenter.com, I identified.

Getting Ready

This picture is just for fun. I was getting ready to attend my fourth and final shower for World Impact ladies that are having babies around here. I decided that since it is February now, I can wear springy pink. Ryan picked out this shirt for me and this is the first time I have been able to wear it.

We have been getting all the final things ready for Ben's arrival. Ryan installed the car seat base in my car, so now it goes everywhere with me. I have packed Ben's diaper bag with his few little essentials and his going home outfit. I have gotten together many of the things for my hospital bag, but so much of it will have to wait until we get closer. I do have a list though on top of the bag to remind me of everything I want to eventually get in the bag.

We were able to purchase pretty much everything else from our registry that we hadn't received at showers thanks to cash and gift card gifts. We think we have everything we could need. Now, we just wait until he actually gets here and see what else we really do need that we haven't thought of yet.

We have signed up for childbirth classes at the hospital birth center where I plan to deliver. We will be in class all day Saturday, Feb 21 and 28. WooHoo.

Ryan has been really busy working lately. He is currently teaching two classes, one on Monday evening and one on Wednesday morning. He is supposed to start another class this Tuesday evening. I am holding my breathe to see if it happens. The prospective students have been a bit finicky so we will just have to see what happens.

Here is a video of Ryan teaching. He is a fabulous teacher, but I didn't want to actually post one of his classes, so this is just a funny moment in class. This is from his Old Testament survey course (that he wrote himself) and when introducing the next book to discuss, he shows some "artistic representations" of stories or themes from the book. I just thought this was a funny moment and I talk about myself a lot, so you Ryan-lovers can get a little fix from this.


He will also be attending a weekend summit/conference for all satellite campuses this coming weekend. Thankfully, the summit is here in Wichita. That means he will be gone most of the weekend, but at least he is just across the street instead of having to travel to another World Impact city or state. I am thankful for that, but will miss him being home. How will I ever get off the couch without his strong arm to push or pull me up?

We go to the doctor this Monday for our 34 week check-up. No belly pictures again until week 36, so I probably wont post unless something crazy happens at the doctor.